Burial casket

ABSTRACT

A BURIAL CASKET FORMED OF SHEET METAL AND INCLUDING A BODY HAVING UPSTANDING WALLS DEFINING A RECTANGULAR UPWARDLY FACING SEATING SURFACE AND INCLUDING A CASKET LID HINGEDLY SECURED ON SAID BODY. THE LID BEING FORMED OF SHEET METAL AND DEFINING A THIN OUTWARDLY PROJECTING RECTANGULAR FLANGE. THE LID OF THE CASKET BEING ADAPTED TO OVERLIE THE CASKET BODY WITH THE THIN RECTANGULAR FLANGE OF THE LID SEATINGLY ENGAGING THE RECTANGULAR SEATING SURFACE OF THE BODY.

March 16, 1971 GRUBER I 3,570,082

BURIAL CASKET Filed May 22, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. LESLIE 6. GRUBER BY ya/ivk/mbyzzi March 16, 1971 L. G. GRUBER 3,570,082

BURIAL CASKET Filed May 22. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet z INVENTOR. LESLIE G. GRUBER United States Patent 3,570,082 BURIAL CASKET Leslie G. Gruber, 4530 Shady Grove Road, Memphis, Tenn. 38117 Filed May 22, 1968, Ser. No. 731,109 Int. Cl. A01g 17/02 U.S. Cl. 27-6 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A burial casket formed of sheet metal and including a body having upstanding walls defining a rectangular upwardly facing seating surface and includes a casket lid hingedly secured on said body. The lid being formed of sheet metal and defining a thin outwardly projecting rectangular flange. The lid of the casket being adapted to overlie the casket body with the thin rectangular flange of the lid seatingly engaging the rectangular seating surface of the body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention Relates to burial caskets formed of sheet metal material.

(2) Description of the prior art In sheet metal casket construction the lid part of the casket is generally the most difiicult part to manufacture and thus typically the most expensive part of the casket.

The typical casket lid is constructed of two parts and includes a base and a so-called cap. The base of the lid or the so-called O.G. rail is typically formed of four substantially straight rail-like members fitted together in rectangular configuration and defining parallel arranged upper and lower generally rectangular surfaces. The cap typically includes an inturned peripheral rim portion, which is adapted to be permanently secured on the upper surface of the base of the lid or so-called O.G. rail as by welding, and which when used in the half-couch or hinged panel style serves as a border around the interior. Both the base and the cap of the lid are expensive to manufacture and each part requires several manufacturing operations. Pat. No. 3,354,524 illustrates and describes generally the prior art practice of making sheet metal casket lids and discusses various problems relative thereto.

In order to provide the public with an economy model casket, certain casket manufacturers construct caskets utilizing only the cap part of a casket lid for the casket body cover. By utilizing the readily available standard industry cap an economy model casket may be fabricated. A particular disadvantage in using the standard industry cap in economy model caskets is the somewhat cramped casket interior; in using such a casket cap a somewhat cramped corpse-receiving and viewing chamber must be provided in the casket. Heretofore in a casket of this type the corpse-receiving space or the space covered by the casket lid was only about seventeen or eighteen inches in width which was somewhat less than desirable. Moreover, when the cap is constructed with an inturned rim portion, as at present, the resulting narrow width does not present a casket silhouette the public is accustomed to seeing.

A further problem with prior art caskets is the difiiculty in shipping or transporting the caskets. The typical casket is shipped or transported with its lid in place on a casket body and it is not unusual that during shipment the lid is damaged. The position of a lid on the casket topside causes it to be in prominent view of the public and thus slight imperfections in the casket lid are readily apparent.

3,570,082 Patented Mar. 16, 1971 Considerable care must be exercised by the casket manufacturer in packing and shipping a casket to reduce damage to casket lids. Because of the ease of damage mentioned above and because caskets present a light bulky load the casket manufacturer has been subjected to high freight rates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The casket of the present invention is provided with a lid which may be easily formed from a single sheet of metal. The casket lid is provided with a circumferential thin exterior or outwardly extending flange which is adapted to seatingly engage the flange of the casket body. The thin flange of the lid is of a configuration to present a substantially smooth contour or silhouette of the casket. The casket lid may be formed with a minimum number of manufacturing operations and yet present a more acceptable appearance than current economy models. Manufacturers or parts suppliers having facilities to form the standard casket caps of today can form the cap of the present invention with a minimum of tooling modifications and by eliminating the necessity of the inturned rim portion, the manufacturer or parts supplier can reduce the total number of forming operations to half. In addition, the caps of the present invention give a more economical operation since they can be compactly nested to take up less space than previous casket tops.

By utilizing the casket and casket lid construction of the present invention a casket having a more pleasing corpse viewing area may be provided; additionally, the area provided for the insertion of the corpse into the casket will be increased making the present invention useable on a wider range of corpse sizes.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the reversibility of the casket lid. In packing and shipping a casket of the present invention the lid part may be placed in an inverted disposition on the body of the casket. The reversibility or invertability of the casket lid provides means for assuring that the casket lid will not be damaged during shipment. Moreover, the invertability of the casket lids of a plurality of caskets being shipped provides means for loading a greater number of caskets in a given space as compared with prior art caskets having non-invertable lids. This is important since in a van or in a freight car designed for hauling caskets, the weight is never the problem but rather the volume presents the problem. In other words, in transporting caskets the minimum weight on which freight cost must be paid is never reached because the volume limitation is reached first. On the other hand, with the use of the present invention approximately 20% more units can be placed in a van or freight car, which for the above-mentioned reasons makes shipping more economical.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a casket embodying the features of the present invention and as embodied in a perfection half couch type casket.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view taken as from FIG. 1 but illustrating the half couch casket with both lids in closed dispositions.

FIG. 3 is a vertical plane transverse sectional view of the casket with a casket lid in a closed configuration.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but illustrating the lid in an inverted configuration and as when the casket is being packaged or shipped.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a lid hinge means of the casket and illustrating the hinge half elements in spaced apart arrangement for purposes of description.

FIG. 6 is a vertical plane transverse sectional view of a lid latch assembly of the casket, taken as on the line VIVI of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a horizontal view of the lid latch assembly of FIG. 6 and as viewed in an upward direction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The casket of the present invention is indicated by numeral 11 and preferably is a perfection half couch type casket and includes a body 13, lid structure including a foot lid 15 and head lid 17 and includes attachment means 19 for removably attaching respectively lids 15, 17 to the casket body.

Body 13 preferably is formed of sheet metal and includes a horizontal base 21 and upstanding side and end Walls 23a, 23b, 25a, 25b upstanding respectively from base 21 and arranged in generally rectangular configuration. The upper marginal portion of each wall of side and end walls 23a, 23b, 25a, 25b are angled obliquely inwardly at 27a, 27b, 29a, 29b and terminate respectively in horizontal interior flanges 31a, 31b, 33a, 33b. Side and end walls 23a, 23b, 25a, 25b are arranged rectangularly and the upwardly facing surfaces of flanges 31a, 31b, 33a, 33b combined to form an upwardly facing rectangular seating surface 35 adapted to supportingly engage the underside of lid structures 15, 17. The upper terminal edge of each side and end wall 23a, 23b, 25a, 25b preferably is in the form of downturned flanges 35a, 35b, 37a, 37b projecting vertically downwardly respectively from seating flanges 31a, 31b, 33a, 33b.

Foot lid 15 includes a generally rectangular upwardly bulbous interior portion 39 and a thin flat flange 41 which is integrally secured to portion 39 at the lower edges thereof and extends horizontally outwardly therefrom along one end and the sides thereof, so that the flange 41 is U-shaped when viewed from above as in FIG. 2. In like manner, head lid 17 includes an upwardly bulbous interior portion 43 and a thin flat flange 45 which is integrally secured to portion 43 at the lower edges thereof and extends horizontally outwardly therefrom along one end and the sides thereof so that flange 45 is U-shaped when viewed from above as in FIG. 2. The flange portions 41, 45 respectively of foot and head lids 15, 17 include respectively side and end portions 41a, 41b, 41c, and 45a, 45b, 450. The foot and head lids 15, 17 are preferably formed in one piece by drawing and then a transverse cut is made to divide the formed piece into the two separate parts, namely, the foot lid 15 and the head lid 17. Although not illustrated in the drawings, lid structures 15, 17 may be each provided with header structure depending upon the rigidity desired. Foot and head lids 15, 17 are adapted to cover corpse-receiving chamber 51 of casket body 13 with lid flanges 41a, 41b, 41c and 45a, 45b, 45c restingly engaging respective surface portions of casket body seating surface 35.

Attachment means 19 preferably includes a plurality of hinge and latch assemblies including hinge assemblies 53a, 53b arranged respectively partially on foot and head lids 15, 17 and latch assemblies 55a, 55b, arranged respectively partially on foot and head lid 15, 17. Hinge assemblies 53a, 53b each include releasable elements allowing the respective lids to be removed from the casket body when the respective lids are in open dispositions. The enlarged showing of a foot lid hinge assembly 53:: (FIG. will be described in detail and this will suflice also as a description for hinge assemblies 53b.

Hinge asembly 53a includes a first element 57 removably secured by suitable means, as bolt-nut fasteners 59, to flange 33b of casket body side wall 25b. Hinge assembly 53a includes also a second element 61 fixedly secured by suitable means, as rivets 63, to side flange 41b of foot lid 15. A tongue portion 65 of first element 57 is adapted to extend through opening 67 of second element 61 for removable hinged attachment of food lid on body wall 25b. When first and second hinge elements 57, 61 are in engaged relationship, tongue 65 of first element 57 is turnably received over bight portion 69 of 4 second hinge element 61. A pair of downwardly projecting barbs 71 arranged inwardly of bight portion 69 on second hinge element 61 prevents displacement of first and second hinge elements 57, 61, when lid 15 is in a partially opened disposition.

Latch asemblies 55a, 55b respectively of foot and head lids 15, 17 preferably include respectively handles 73a, 73b. Latch assemblies 55a, 55b are detent type assemblies and manually lifting on handles 73a or 73b hingedly lifts selectively foot or head lid 15, 17. Foot and head lid latch assemblies 55a, 55b and handles 73a and 73b are alike and the following description of a latch assembly 55a will suffice also for latch assemblies 55b.

With reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, latch assembly 55a includes a dowel pin 75 fixedly secured on foot lid 15 and detent means 77 mounted on side wall 25a of casket body 13. Dowel 75 is provided with a shoulder portion 79 arranged medially of its length and is threaded at its upper end to receive a nut 81. Bulb-shaped end portion 83 of dowel 75 is adapted to disengagingly engage a hairpin-shaped spring 85 loosely secured on the underside of interior flange 33a of casket body side wall 2511. A hollow box-like retainer 87 is fixedly secured as by welding at opposite end portions 89 to the undersurface of side wall flange 33a and loosely retains spring 85 in proper position underneath an aperture 91 in flange 33a. Dowel 75 projects upwardly through openings respectively in lid flange 41b and handle 73a and is fixedly secured by nut 81.

When lid 15 is in a closed disposition, shoulder portion 79 of dowel 75 is adapted to be loosely received in aperture 91 in side wall flange 33a of casket body 13. When latch assembly 5511 is in a latched disposition, end portion 83 of dowel 75 is projected downwardly through aperture 91, between spring legs 85a, 85b. Foot lid 15 or head lid 17 may selectively be latched by pivoting the respective lids downwardly, pressing downwardly on handles 73a, 73b and detent locking the respective latch assemblies 55a, 55b. Lid structure 15, 17 of casket 11 may be opened selectively by manually lifting handles 73a, 73b and disengaging respectively latch assemblies 55a, 55b. When it is desired to ship or store the caskets 11, the hinge elements 57, handles 73a, 73b, nuts 81, and dowel pins 75 are removed. The foot and head lids 15, 17 are then reversed with the flanges 41 and 45 resting on casket body seating surface 35. If desired, suitable cushioning material, not shown, is placed between surface 35 and the flanges 41, 45.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the present invention it will be understood that various modifications in structure may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A burial casket comprising a body formed substantially entirely of sheet metal having a horizontal base and upstanding paired side and end walls arranged in rectangular configuration and defining an upwardly opening chamber, the upper marginal portion of each side and end wall being angled inwardly and defining an interior flange, the flanges of the side and end walls defining a generally rectangular upwardly facing seating surface, lid structure adapted to removably cover the chamber of said casket body, said lid structure being generally rectangular and formed substantially entirely of sheet metal and including an upwardly bulbous interior portion and a thin fiat horizontal generally rectangular exterior flange integrally secured to and extending outwardly circumferentially from and about said bulbous interior portion of said lid structure, and including attachment means for detachably securing said lid structure on said body with said exterior flange of said lid being detachably secured in corresponding arrangement on the upwardly facing seating surface of said casket body.

2. A burial casket as defined in claim 1 wherein said attachment means for detachably securing said lid structure on said body includes hinge means arranged along a longitudinal edge of said lid structure selectively removably hingedly securing that edge to the upper marginal portion of a side wall of said body, and includes latch means including vertically aligned and automatically coacting latch elements arranged respectively along a longitudinal edge of said lid and along the upper marginal portion of a side wall of said body; the last mentioned edge of said lid structure and side wall of said latch means being arranged respectively parallel opposite the first mentioned edge of said lid structure and side wall of said body and said hinge means.

3. A burial casket as defined in claim 2 wherein said latch means includes latch lift handle means detachably secured on said rectangular flange of said lid structure for grasping to lift said lid structure and includes resiliently actuated detent means for resiliently securing said exterior flange of said lid structure in seating engagement with the upwardly facing seating surface of said body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Lambert 27-17 Kobryner 292-17 Overland 27-17 Breehl 16-174(X) Nester 292-204 Purkiss 292-157 Slaughter 27-17 Overland et a1. 27-17 Dell et al. 27-35 Peterson 16-171 US. Cl. X.R. 

